Diplomats Dominant on Day One

Results

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall’s men’s swimmers opened a commanding lead on the first night of the Centennial Conference (CC) Championships at the Diplomats’ McGinness Pool. The Diplmoats won three of the six finals contested Friday evening, including a record-breaking performance in the 400-yard medley relay.

Matt Jaffee, Tom Grabiak, Peter Fishler and Matt Woods combined for a 3:26.9 in the medley relay, good enough for an NCAA B-Cut. It was also fast enough to break the Conference record that was held by Johns Hopkins since 1999. Their mark was nearly six seconds ahead of the Swarthmore entry, and delivered the event to the Diplomats for the seventh straight season.

The Garnet stands in second place after day one.

That was the second relay win of the evening for F&M. Woods and Fishler teamed up with J.P. Kelly and David Apple for a four second win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the night’s first race.

In addition to helping the relay team to a B-Cut time, 2008 All-American and CC Outstanding Performer, Tom Grabiak, added a B-Cut time of his own, swimming a 1:54.23 in the 200-yard Individual Medley. The Diplomats had six entries in the eight championship final slots of the event. Matt Jaffee took the conference silver in the race.

The run on the board in the 200-yard I.M. leaves F&M with 297 points after the first day, followed by Swarthmore with 174. Gettysburg is in third place with 166 and Dickinson is fourth with 138.

“I think we swam pretty well tonight,” said Diplomats’ Head Coach, Bob Rueppel. “We still have a long way to go against a boatload of talented swimmers before we reach any of the goals we set for ourselves.

Swimming resumes tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Championship finals get underway at 6:00 p.m.

Day One Medals

David Apple
Gold – 200 Free Relay

Tom Grabiak
Gold – 200 I.M., 400 Medley Relay

Matt Jaffee
Gold - 400 Medley Relay
Silver – 200 I.M.

J.P. Kelly
Gold – 200 Free Relay

Peter Fishler
Gold – 200 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Silver – 50 Free

Matt Woods
Gold – 200 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay